Modi pays tribute to India’s First PM

Decades later, Nehru remains most hotly debated Indian politician ever

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday paid tribute to India’s first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru on his 56th death anniversary.

Taking it to Twitter, Modi said: “Tributes to our first PM, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Ji on his death anniversary.”

In 1964 Nehru died of heart attack at the age of 75. He served as the Prime Minister of India from its independence in 1947 until his death in 1964. The excerpt from “Tryst with Destiny”, his famous inaugural address as the first Prime Minister of independent India on August 15 “when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom” is one of the most popular addresses in the Indian History.

On 28 May, Nehru was cremated at the Shantivan on the banks of the Yamuna. His last rites were witnessed by 1.5 million mourners who had flocked into the streets of Delhi and the cremation grounds.